The French president told his Argentine counterpart this Sunday that France opposes the free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) and that he expects negotiations between the countries involved.
“We do not believe in the agreement as negotiated.“, and closed in 2019, Emmanuel Macron told French media in Buenos Aires, at the end of a visit to Argentina, during which he met with the president of that country, Javier Milei.
The EU-Mercosur free trade agreement was signed in 2019, after many years of negotiation, but it has been blocked since then by the opposition of some European countriesand particularly in France, which is now seeking to form a coalition to veto it.
“France opposes this agreement and I tell you more: President Milei himself told me that he was not satisfied” with this text or with the “current functioning of Mercosur,” declared Emmanuel Macron.
The French president reportedly told Milei that the deal “would be very detrimental to reindustrialization.” [da Argentina] and very bad” for agriculture in France, given the concern, for example, about the entry into the country of meat treated with hormones and antibiotics.
“We cannot tell French and European farmers to change their practices and stop using certain plant protection products. […] and at the same time open our markets to massive imports of products that do not meet the same criteria,” he stated.
Macron responds in this way, also to reach out to the unions linked to the French agricultural sector, which are preparing protests for this week as a way of resuming demands from a year ago, in particular the opposition to the EU-Mercosur agreement.
After the visit to Argentina, Macron headed to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to participate in the G20 summit.
Source: Observadora
